Celestia shuffled through her paperwork, watching out of the corner of her eye as students and staff darted about the school yard. The new school year was to begin in a few days, and everyone was getting ready. Whether it was preparing classrooms, or registering, things were hectic at the moment. Sighing, she turned to face the front of the school again, knowing it was her duty to greet each of the parents of the new freshmen this school year.
Surprise flashed through her upon spotting Zecora, a social worker for Child Services, approaching her with a young teen dragging her feet along behind her. Celestia frowned, wondering vaguely if her old college roommate had yet another trouble child in need of a home. "Zecora, long time no see." Celestia warmly greeted her old friend, reaching a hand out to pull her into a hug.
"Hello old friend." Zecora smiled warmly, accepting her embrace. Taking a step back, she gestured to the young teen behind her. "This is Sunset Shimmer. Long story short. She ran away from home. When we got her back...we found out why. We don't have any available homes at the moment, so I was wondering if you could take her in?"
"Of course..." "Sister! We have a new family that just moved in trying to register their daughter in." Luna appeared on the front steps, her blue gaze piercing into Celestia.
"You remember where I live Zecora? You can just drop Sunset off there." Glancing over at the sulking teen, she quickly gave a bit of information. "The guest bedroom is on the left down the hall. Can't miss it."
"Fine." Sunset scoffed, clearly not impressed with anything at all.
Celestia shook her head, before hurrying over to her sister. "Sorry about that Luna... shall we head down to my office or yours to work this out?"
"They're already down in yours. There's a slight problem. Twilight, that is the new student's name, has anxiety problems. She has a service animal to help her with it. Her folks want to know if its okay for her to bring it to school with her." Luna walked briskly down the hall towards the principal's office.
"I see..." Celestia followed her younger sister towards the brightly decorated office. A minute later, she entered to see a middle aged couple looking over the school's brochure of extracurricular activities, while a young teen sat next to them, holding a small dog in her lap. Glasses covered her features from view, while her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. "Hello, I am Ms. Celestia Stardust, the principal here at this establishment. Shall we look to see how we can best get this darling settled here....uh..."
"Knight Light, and this is my wife, Velvet Sparkle." Knight Light smiled broadly as he stood up to shake hands with her. Turning he gestured to the teen that was now behind him. "This is our daughter, Twilight Sparkle. And her emotional support animal, Spike."
"Well then... he looks like a very nice fellow." Celestia bent over to shake Twilight's hand, before moving to sit behind her desk. "Now then, it doesn't happen often, but we have dealt with service animals here in our school before, and I'm sure we can figure something out."
"Really?" Twilight blinked, surprise flashing in her eyes as she tightened her grip on the pup. To his credit, he didn't yelp at the pain of suddenly having it tighten around him.
"Oh yes... in fact I'll just place a note next to your name on all the roll calls so that no one will give you a hard time... ah. We do strongly encourage students to participate in extracurricular activities. Did you see anything that might interest you?" Celestia gestured to the brochure, a smile planted firmly on her features.
"Not particularly... I noticed you don't have a science club." Twilight shrugged, her brow pinched as if she didn't want to talk about this.
"You don't have to choice one right away. In fact, it isn't uncommon for students to make a new club during the school year. Maybe you will enjoy one of those better." Celestia offered.
Twilight nodded slowly, still looking uncertain about everything. Celestia silently hoped that once she learned how much fun Celestia tried to make the school year, she would open up more and relax some.
Celestia locked her car door in front of the tall apartment building, rolling her shoulder just slightly as she balanced a box of pepperoni pizza in her one hand. Swiftly moving to the building's entrance, she used her tenant key to unlock the door, before hurrying into the quiet hall. Darting up the first two stories, she entered the third floor with practice ease. Moving down this hall, she quickly approached the apartment door labeled three twenty-seven B. Unlocking it, she slipped in, snapping the door shut behind her. "Sunset? I brought dinner."
Celestia turned away from the door to find the young girl sitting on a couch, staring intently at the bird cage that held a rather beautiful parrot. "I see you found Philomena. She's quite a beauty isn't she?"
Sunset jumped at the sound of her voice, head snapping around to stare at her. Upon doing so, she noticed the box in her hand. "I'm vegetarian."
"Oh..." Celestia wrinkled her nose at that, wondering vaguely if Zecora hadn't known that little detail. "I believe I have the fixings for a salad in the fridge."
"You have a lot of video games for being a stuffy old principal." Sunset commented as she followed Celestia into the kitchen.
Celestia, who had picked up a bottle of water and taken a sip, nearly chocked upon hearing that. "Stuffy...old... principal!? That's it! We're eating in front of the TV so that I can slaughter you at Dragons and Wizards!"
"...Do you even know how to play?"
Celestia didn't respond. She was quickly throwing a salad together, all the while silently fuming. She was not a stuffy old principal! Philomena squawked loudly from her perch, staring questioningly at her owner. Unfortunately, she was too busy getting the popular amongst teens video game ready to notice.